Carne Golf Links

A Jewel in the Wilds of Mayo

A magnificent rainbow arched the western sky as we neared Belmullet. The old stories tell us there a pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow. There was no pot gold at the end of this one, but there was a treasure.
It’s called Carne Golf Links.

The Clubhouse at Carne

North
west Mayo is probably the most isolated and least developed area of Ireland. The last
stretch of the road to Belmullet crosses a desolate expanse of bog. You would
have to wonder what stimulated the earliest human facing this landscape to keep
going, maybe the first settlers arrived by sea. And maybe its seclusion contributes to the warm welcome given to strangers on the peninsula.

Erris Tourism, a community owned and controlled company set up to
promote visitors to the area, built an eighteen hole golf course on 260 acres of
commonage that opened in 1993. And what a truly inspired golf course they built! Belmullet Golf Club, which had operated a nine
hole course nearby since 1925, became
the resident club at the new course.

It is difficult to exaggerate the rugged splendour of Carne. Positioned
on a peninsula between Blacksod
Bay to the east and the
wild Atlantic to the west, the course - the
last to be designed by legendary links designer Eddie Hackett - uses the towering
sandhills and deep valleys with minimum disturbance of the natural contours. Hackett
believed in using the natural lie of the land: “I find that nature is the best
architect,”, he said, “I just try to dress up what the Good Lord provides and if
ever the Lord intended land for a golf course, Carne has it.” And it works
beautifully. They did not move mountains to build Carne, they threaded a golf
course through them. Massive sandhills and staggering scenery help make this
one of the most impressive links courses you are likely to see anywhere.

Described locally as “Nature’s Gift to Golf”, the course is carved
out of the coastal dunes, following the lie of the wild land, rising and
falling as nature dictated. There is a degree of blindness on many holes. The
dunes and valleys create naturally isolated fairways, with many raised tees and
plateau greens giving an established feel to this relatively new course. It
feels like it has been there forever.

The fact that Carne is not one of the best known golf links in
Ireland may be due in part to a shortage of accommodation for visitors the area
- until recently. Now there is the splendid new Broadhaven Bay Hotel and
Leisure Centre. The modern ninety bedroom facility offers Play & Stay
breaks and a free shuttle service to the golf course, about five minutes away.

The Belmullet peninsula is a Gaeltacht, an area where Irish is the
native language of the older people and all signs are in Irish and English.
Carne golf links follows the same pattern but, not being overly manicured, its minimalist
approach also extends to the signage. Unobtrusive arrows point the way but you
have to keep any eye to where you are going. I am told they are thinking about
putting up a few more signs. It would be a shame to overdo it, as the bare
natural appearance is an important ingredient of the course’s character. It is only
a minor inconvenience for those playing the course for the first time and the
cure is delightfully simple - play it again.

The course opens on a high tee box and the views are truly spectacular.
Anxious as I was to get going, I found myself turning my back on the par four
to absorb the panoramic vista. The opening hole is an uphill dogleg right with
the green set on a ledge. Careful positioning of the first shot is the key. The
2nd hole at 200 yards is the longest of the par threes. The green is
in a hollow and with a little space around the green a par is not out of the
question. Any par you get in Carne is well earned.

The par five 4th starts over a small hill and the fairway is blind
from the tee. You would do well to keep a bit right. The fairway is more
generous than it appears with the course boundary deceptively close to the
left. It is not overly long and careful positioning rather than great length
will get you there in regulation.

The 7th is a straightforward 174 yard par three but the
green is about fifty feet above you. Clubbing here is everything and with the
prevailing wind from the left, making the green is no mean feat.

All of the par threes in Carne are exceptional. The 14th
is shortest at 136 yards but with a tight fairway the green makes a small
target, sloping front and back. If you can pull yourself away from the magnificent
views from the tee box right on the coastal boundary of the course, a par here
is a great result. The last par three, the sixteenth, is 155 yards with the
green well below the high tee. It should be no more than an 8 or 9 iron. Two
large bunkers on the left make accuracy all the more important here.

The 10th is another blind par five but it has a
generous fairway that starts uphill and then down to a green in an amphitheatre
of sand dunes. The terrific 11th is a sharp dogleg to the right and
at 328 yards you try the shortcut over a large hill known to locals as Mount Everest. This is a dangerous route as the raised
green, in the unlikely event you hit it, is hard to hold from distance. You
would be well advised to leave your driver in the bag here. This is a
strategist’s golf course and it defends itself well against big hitters and this
hole is a great example of that.

The 12th, a short par four of a little over 300 yards, is
a sharp dogleg left. Position is everything here to set up for the approach to
the raised green. The rough in Carne is not as unforgiving as many links, but
you can still have what a caddy in Lahinch described to me as a “bacon
ball” - as I began to grasp
my dearth of options on a steep grassy slope where my ball had disappeared, he
explained there was little chance of finding it: “If you wrapped a rasher
around that ball, Lassie couldn’t find it”.

Carne’s 13th is probably the most ordinary hole on the
course, a straightforward par five with only the course boundary on the right
to give any trouble. It is known locally as “the calm before the storm” as you
move on to the tricky par three 14th and spectacular fairway of the
15th, probably the course’s signature hole. The undulating fairway
here rises to a fairly generous green with a sneaky little bunker hidden at the
back, one of only twenty-nine bunkers on the entire round.

The par four 17th presents no big danger but reaching in two here
is no mean task for the average hitter.
The 18th is a long par five and you could hide a house in the
hollow in front of the green. It is branded as “hell” and has spoiled many a
good card.

The 18th hole has a hilly fairway

Carne is a stunningly beautiful place and a great test of golf. Comparisons
to Lahinch, Portrush and Ballybunion are inevitable, but green fees in
Carne are less than half those of any comparable links. The only thing that could be held against it is it's remoteness, but
the trip is well worth it and for any discerning links golfer, it is simply unmissable.

·Carne Golf Links was voted no 28 in the world
rankings by the American magazine Golf World - November 2005

·Christy O’Connor Snr had a hole in one on the
164 yard second.

·There are plans to build another nine holes at Carne. They have
the land but this is a project that will not be rushed - it is a five year
plan. I hope they remember what Eddie Hackett said: “It took nature thousands
of years to create this and I don't want bulldozers to destroy it. Don't change
anything after I've gone or I will turn in my grave."